The effectiveness of protecting hard disk drives in shock events, especially those following events such as a free fall event (e.g., dropping a device containing a hard disk drive), is dependent on the length of time between detecting the event and parking of the head(s). Accordingly, if the time between prediction of an impending shock event and parking of the disk drive head(s) can be reduced, especially in free fall events, the likelihood of damage to the disk drive may be substantially reduced and/or eliminated. However, the faster the head(s) of the disk drive is parked, the greater risk of damage to the head(s) and other internal components of the disk drive.